450 UNGULATA. 



be induced to pass within a moderate distance of the spot without going 

 for his beer. Neither entreaties nor force sufficed to turn his head in 

 another direction, and his master was in such cases obliged to make the 

 best of the matter, and permit the animal to partake of his desired 

 refreshment. He had a curious knack of taking a tumbler of beer 

 between his lips, and drinking the contents without spilling a drop of 

 the liquid, or breaking the glass. So curious a sight as a donkey drink- 

 ing beer, was certain to attract many observers, who testified their 

 admiration by treating the animal to more beer. His head, however, 

 was fortunately a strong one, for only once in his life was he ever seen 

 intoxicated, and on that solitary occasion his demeanor was wonderfully 

 decorous, and marked by a comic air of gravity. 



But it is in Egypt that the Ass plays the most conspicuous part ; in 

 Cairo, donkey-riding is universal, and no one ventures beyond the Frank 

 quarter on foot. Bayard Taylor gives a vivid description of these 

 animals : " The donkeys are so small, that my feet nearly touched the 

 ground, but there is no end to their strength and endurance ; their gait 

 is so easy and light, that fatigue is impossible. The passage of the 

 bazaars seems at first quite as hazardous on donkey-back as on foot ; but 

 it is the difference between knocking somebody down and being knocked 

 down yourself, and one certainly prefers the former alternative. There 

 is no use in attempting to guide the donkey, for he won't be guided 

 The driver shouts behind, and you are dashed at full speed into a con 

 fusion of other donkeys, camels, horses, carts, water-carriers, and fco<. 

 men. In vain you cry out 'Bess' (enough), Piacco, and other desperat' 

 adjurations ; the driver's only reply is, ' Let the bridle hang loose; .' " Yo; 

 dodge your head under a camel-load of planks ; your leg brushes tht 

 wheel of a dust-cart ; you strike a fat Turk plump in the back ; you 

 miraculously escape upsetting a fruit-stand ; you scatter a company 

 of spectral, white-masked women, and at last reach some, more quiet 

 street, with the sensations of a man who has stormed a battery. At 

 first this sort of riding made me very nervous ; but presently I let the 

 donkey go his own way, and took a curious interest in seeing how 

 near a chance I ran of striking or being struck. Sometimes there 

 seemed no hope of avoiding a violent collision ; but by a series of the 

 most remarkable dodges, he generally carried you through in safety. 

 The cries of the driver running behind, gave me no little amusement. 

 'The howadji comes! Take care on the right hand! Take care on the 



